


Constellation Confirmations

by Mimifreed



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Animagus, Best Friends, Discord: Dumbledore's Armada, Dumbledore's Armada's Judged by the Cover Flash Comp, Flash Competition, Friendship, Gen, Hogwarts Astronomy Tower, Male-Female Friendship, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Minor James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, One Shot, POV Lily Evans Potter, Platonic Relationships, Prompt Fic, Remus Lupin & Lily Evans Potter Friendship, Remus Lupin Needs a Hug, Werewolf Remus Lupin, Werewolf Reveal, Young Remus Lupin, lily evans is a good friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:14:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28036779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mimifreed/pseuds/Mimifreed
Summary: (Written for the DA Discord: Judged by the Cover Flash Comp! WINNER: Best Platonic Relationship)Lily is frustrated. But, confirmed by a howl, she discovers the real reason Remus Lupin cancelled their appointment to map out the constellations for class.
Comments: 25
Kudos: 41
Collections: Judged by the Cover





	Constellation Confirmations

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [ravenslight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ravenslight/pseuds/ravenslight) in the [judgedbythecover](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/judgedbythecover) collection. 



> This was written for the Dumbledore's Armada Discord **Judged by the Cover** flash competition hosted by the lovely Ravenslight!  
> A big thank you to my alphabet who will remain nameless in the spirit of anonymity for the competition.
> 
> **Prompt:**
> 
> **Moon Lore**
> 
> YOOOO I won **Best Platonic Relationship**!!!

Lily Evans was a lot of things.

Head Girl. Top of her class. Punctual. Empathetic. Compass…

_...what's he doing?!_

Lily huffed, eyes narrowed into slits, as she watched James Potter stroll across the grounds. Adjusting the settings on her telescope, she zoomed in and saw Sirius, Peter and Remus trailing him.

"Those… _lying toe-rags!_ " Lily spat, watching the four boys rush across the green and out of sight.

James had, _once again_ , pawned his night rounds off on another prefect. While it wasn't the first time he'd slacked on his duties to go mucking about the castle with his friends, he had promised her that wasn't the case this time. Not to mention, Peter had cancelled study plans with Mary and Sirius had told Marlene he wouldn't be able to accompany her to Hogsmeade in the morning because he'd be running Quidditch drills.

_And_ Remus had lied to her!

Remus was in NEWT level Astronomy with Lily, and had been her project partner all year. They worked well together, him taking his studies as seriously as she did. Even with his penchant for pranks and wreaking havoc with the others, he always made time to study and work on revisions. They had a large project due on Tuesday, and Remus had approached her earlier that evening, stating he had a migraine and wouldn't be able to meet at the late hour to assist with mapping their assigned constellation.

Lily knew Remus suffered migraines frequently, as he'd spent many nights in the Hospital Wing over the years, because of them. She'd always pitied her sickly friend, but now... had Remus been lying to her about it? For what? To get out of doing their group work?

_This is why group projects shouldn't be allowed! I always end up doing everything! You're too bloody nice, Evans! You're_ _too nice_ _!_

Kind and empathetic as she was, Lily could also admit that she was stubborn and easily flustered. She had a bad habit of taking on too much, spreading herself too thin, and working herself to the beds of her nails-which Remus knew. So, _never_ would she have thought that Remus would be the cause of her ire!

She buried her feelings of betrayal, pushing forward with their project of mapping the Auriga Constellation, deciding there was nothing to be done about it now and that first thing in the morning she would confront Remus.

As the night wore on and her anger subsided, she allowed herself a break. Shuffling through her bag for the packet of crisps she'd brought to munch on, she flipped through a new book she'd gotten from the library earlier that week, hoping it would explain a few of the theoretical research questions that Professor Sinistra had proposed for extra credit. Sat against the wall, Lily cracked the cover of the book titled _Moon Lore_ and began to read.

_Well… this is_ not _what I expected…_ Lily thoughts, chuckling to herself. Initially, when she picked it off the stack on the library cart, it had been the cover that had drawn her to it. It was a beautiful shade of deep indigo, flowers weaving together around the edges of the decaying cover in a lattice of golden filigree. She'd nabbed it for some recreational reading, but the title and its relation to their extra credit assignment had made her pack it into her knapsack.

However, the book was utterly ridiculous. It was a muggle book, not that it mattered, but the only lore it explained was the absolutely hysterical conspiracy theory of the Man in the Moon.

With her mood significantly lightened, she dusted off her fingers, closed the gorgeous cover and placed the book back in her bag. While satirical at best- and that was being generous- the book would be of no use towards her extra credit.

With a small sigh of disappointment, Lily stood, rifling through her parchments for her carefully mapped constellation project and moved back towards her telescope.

_**AH-WOOOO!** _

Lily froze as a shiver tore up her spine that had nothing to do with the late night chill in the air. Was that…? _No._ It couldn't be!

There had been rumors of werewolves in the Forbidden Forest for years, but she had never thought they were true! She had learned about the creatures in DADA, of course, but she didn't actually _believe_ they were this close to Hogwarts. That was preposterous!

... _wasn't it?_

As the howl faded into the still of the midnight hour, Lily rushed over to her telescope, swinging the barrel away from the sky and down towards the forest. Another cry rang out, causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand, and she quickly yanked the device to the left, her fingers rolling the wheels to focus. Zoomed this closely, she could practically count the needles on the pine trees.

She waited, seconds ticking by, until finally she saw movement. Her brows furrowed in confusion as she watched a dog and a stag run through the trees. And was that…?

_Is there a_ rat _on the stag's antlers?!_ _What. The. Hell?!_

As the dog turned around to bark, she saw it- a massive creature, bounding through the undergrove after the others. It was hunched over on all fours, its spine long and curved, its limbs covered in thick, dark fur. Its head was not human, but not _quite_ animal and as it chased the others, it looked almost as if it were having... _fun_.

Lily stepped back from the telescope, blinking several times before pressing the heel of her palms into her eyes, trying to scrub the exhaustion from them. She dragged her fingers through her hair and over her face as a realization dawned on her.

_One night a month_.

It was only once a month that James shoved his duties off on other prefects. It was only one morning, always the day after James had rearranged their schedules, that Peter would cancel plans with Mary, Sirius with Marlene… It was only _one night a month_ that Remus suffered from debilitating migraines...

Her mind began to race. _No. That doesn't… That doesn't make sense! I need sleep. I'm just mad that my friends lied to me. But then… where did they go earlier? Did they come back?_

Lily's hands stilled on her face, the tips of her fingers pressing into her lips. She scrambled over to her bag, upending its contents to the ground. Her notes dumped out, the indigo book hitting the flagstones with a thud, but she pushed them aside. She grabbed the small journal she kept track of the Prefect schedule in, and skipped through to the dates that James had requested swaps for.

She shuffled through the parchments, looking for her cheat guide of lunar cycles for class, and began cross referencing the dates. The first date James had swapped, September 27- full moon. Again October 26, November 25…

And tonight, March 24th. Lily looked up from where she sat, pulling her eyes from her notes and up to the sky. Her breath hitched in her throat, a full moon hung above-painting the grounds in silver light.

Lily looked back down at the mess of parchment and quills that now surrounded her and sighed. As she shoved her supplies back into the bag, collecting the quills and ink pots that had rolled away, she let out a puff of laughter.

If there _was_ a man in the moon, he was mocking her.

* * *

For hours, Lily paced the Gryffindor common room. She had snuck up to the Seventh Year boys' dormitory to see if they were in bed, and when she discovered they weren't she felt her heart hammer even harder against her chest. This was _crazy_ , wasn't it? There was _no way_ that James was a bloody _werewolf_! He didn't have any of the signs! He had simply done what he did best and charmed his way out of his duties! Sirius and Peter certainly weren't either! Peter, _bless him_ , was far from lithe or athletic, and Sirius was much too manicured to turn into a beast once a month! Which left…

_Remus_.

Lily stilled, her stomach plummeting to her feet, eyes growing wide as she began to catalogue her knowledge of werewolf symptoms against Remus' characteristics. He was always exhausted, could fall asleep almost anywhere... He ate more than any person she had ever known, and if he was a werewolf, he would have a much higher metabolism. Not to mention his sensitive hearing and impeccable eyesight. He was dreadful at potions and had once claimed that the smells were too strong, making it hard for him to concentrate. He hardly ever let anyone touch him and there were the scars-his face had a few, and judging by the way the silvery-pink tissue crept up from the collar of his shirts, there were more.

_Oh my god. Remus Lupin is a werewolf._

The pieces clicked into place in the soft yellow light of the early morning. Feeling like an idiot for missing something so obvious _,_ she tore out of the common room and down the corridors, sprinting down flights of stairs and waving off the "Alright, Evans?" that came her way. As she passed a very tired James, Peter, and Sirius on their way up to Gryffindor Tower…she noticed they were _without Remus_.

Skidding to a halt in front of the hospital wing, Lily realized she had no idea what she was going to say. How do you approach someone you care about and tell them you know their biggest secret? She took a deep breath, squaring her shoulders as pushed open the door. Her eyes flitted across the empty beds to one furthest in the corner, nearly hidden from view behind a closed curtain. She could hear soft groans of pain coming from behind them.

"R-Remus?" Lily said, closing the space to his bed.

"Lils?"

"Hey, can I come in?"

"Erm… Yeah. Yeah, I guess that's fine. Is everything okay?"

Lily pushed back the curtain just as he struggled to sit up and she rushed towards him. Remus flinched when she placed her hands against his back to help him. Once he was settled, she sat in the chair next to the bed and handed him the glass of water from the bedside table. Her brows creased with concern as she watched him drink. He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and set down the now empty glass.

"Hey, sorry I had to cancel on you last night I-

"-Remus, I _know_."

A weighted silence fell over them. His eyes fell to his lap as he shifted uncomfortably, mouth twisted to the side.

"You… _know_ …" Remus said, slowly.

Lily nodded, "I know. And I- I've decided I don't _care_. You're one of my very best friends and I'm only hurt that you felt like you couldn't tell me. But, I understand and I won't tell anyone, I promise."

Remus sat stiff, eyes still avoiding her. Lily reached a tentative hand toward him, stopping in mid-air as he shrank away. She arched an eyebrow at him and he relaxed a bit, allowing her to push his mop of sandy curls from his forehead and away from the puckered skin of a freshly mended gash.

"I wanted to tell you," Remus whispered. "But you're one of my best friends too, Lily, and I couldn't. The thought of you hating me…"

"Hating you?! Well that's stupid, isn't it?!"

"Stupid?"

" _Very_ stupid, Remus." Lily laughed, leaning forward and wrapping her arms around his shoulders, in the first hug he had ever allowed her to give him.

Lily Evans was a lot of things.

Head Girl. Top of her class. Punctual. Kind...and best friends with a werewolf.

When she pulled away from the hug she looked at Remus, a mischievous smile pulled at her lips.

"Now, about the dog, rat, and stag I saw you chasing last night…"

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to download the book that was chosen as my prompt (Moon Lore by Rev. Timothy Harley) and it ended up being a hysterical exposition of The Man in the Moon. Like, I found it for free online, so if you need a good laugh while you read something ridiculous that was written in 1889, check it out.
> 
> Thank you so much to everyone who voted for this fic! This comp was a lot of fun and while I really wanted to set this piece on fire for a while, I'm really glad it resonated with so man of you! Thank you so much! 
> 
> xo


End file.
